What's going on Wednesday? (Big K.R.I.T., The Dears, Born Ruffians, The Drums, Marching Church, Gary Clark Jr, more)

photo: Big K.R.I.T. at ACL 2012 (more by Glen Brown)

You can browse our full NYC show calendar for all of tonight’s shows, but here are some highlights…

Big K.R.I.T, Smoke DZA @ Highline Ballroom
Big K.R.I.T.’s an insanely prolific rapper, having not gone a year since his 2010 breakthrough K.R.I.T. Wuz Here without a full length album and/or mixtape. A couple weeks ago, he dropped the new t’s Better This Way and just followed it this week with a one-off single with Rapsody. Tonight he’s in NYC, with local support from his old pal Smoke DZA.

Marching Church, Norman Westberg, Trans FX @ Saint Vitus
Marching Church is another band fronted by Iceage singer Elias Bender Ronnefelt, and their sound isn’t miles away from Elias’ main band. Tonight’s their first of two NYC shows, and exciting support comes from Swans guitarist Norman Westberg (who has a new solo album).

The Dears @ Rough Trade
Montreal’s The Dears were doing epic, heartfelt rock when Arcade Fire were just a glimmer in Win Butler’s eye. With a new album just out, they remain a force live.

Gary Clark Jr. @ Terminal 5
Gary Clark Jr plays blues rock rooted in the genre’s early days, and it continues to catch on with a lot of people. Tonight he takes on the massive Terminal 5.

Mavis Staples & Joan Osborne @ Tarrytown Music Hall
Soul legend Mavis Staples has a lot going on this year. She has a new EP that she made with Son Little, a new documentary called MAVIS!, and she’s on tour now with Joan Osborne. The tour includes a few shows in and around NYC, this being one of them.

HZK (Hauschka + Samuli Kosminen + Jeffrey Zeigler) @ National Sawdust
Three experimental musicians, German musician/composer Hauschka, Samuli Kosminen of Edea, and National Sawdust curator Jeffrey Zeigler, come together for two sets combining electronic and acoustic sounds.

The Drums, The Yetis @ Baby’s All Right
This is the first of three residency shows at Baby’s for The Drums, all of which feature the return of Connor Hanwick to the lineup.

The Darkness @ Stone Pony
While the band have yet to top their 2003 debut, new album Last of Our Kind brings back a little of the saucy fun that first LP had. Live, though, The Darkness remain pure bombastic spectacle, with a show full of riffs, flying leaps, guitar windmills, multiple solos (one of which may be performed on the shoulders of a roadie as he mingles with the audience) and unbridled bravado.

Invisible Familiars, Cantina, Sean Cronin’s Very Good @ Palisades
Having worked with Martha Wainwright, Cibo Matto, Sean Lennon and others, Jared Samuel’s own music, as Invisible Familiars, is an appealing hodgepodge of styles that is at once quirky, folky, poppy and danceable.

Froth, Honduras, Dances, Acid Dad @ Shea Stadium
Los Angeles band Froth make minor chord dreampop with a strong gothic romance streak running though it. (A sound not unlike the last few Raveonettes albums.) The band released their second album Bleak via Burger Records earlier this year.

Born Ruffians, Young Rival @ Bowery Ballroom
Toronto indie vets Born Ruffians just released their fifth album, RUFF, and celebrate tonight.

Antibalas, Jovanotti @ Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn afrobeat band Antibalas kick off their four-show, month-long residency at Brooklyn Bowl tonight with Italian singer-songwriter Jovanotti.

For all of tonight’s shows, and tomorrow’s, check out our NYC concert calendar.

For laughs, check out the NYC Comedy calendar too.

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